Chapter 6
“Shadows of Life and Death”
Grace was with Mr. Blackthorn at a small table in the back of a kitchen, eating. The girl was gazing out the window when the man wondered, “Are you worried about your father?”
“Huh?”
“Are you worried about your father?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s still alive (unlike my hags he’s encountered) and he’s still looking for you.”
“What about your hags?”
“Your father kills them.”
“Probably because they attack him.”
“Yes,” the man nodded. Grace heard, “But he spared Harmony, because she had a pretty face.” The man uttered, “Hags don’t die easily. You should be proud of him: He is a very proficient killer.” Grace heard in silence, “He is the Red Hand of Providence.” Mr. Blackthorn stated, “He’s looking for you.”
“I know.”
“He knows where you are. He can feel you. As he nears you, his terrible realization intensifies.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You already know.”
“I do?”
Mr. Blackthorn nodded amidst chewing. He swallowed then explained, “People have a tendency to know more than they know. Intuition.”
“I know what intuition is.”
“Do you? Grace, do you know who you are?”
“Yes.”
“You do? Tell me who you are?”
“Grace Faye Elderberry. Do you want to hear my social security number, too?”
“Grace, I know that you are disquieted, apprehensive and even suspicious. I make you uneasy. At your very heart you know that which you fear to know. You fear me because I intend to teach you the unsought answer.”
Mr. Blackthorn sipped wine, lightly wiped his mouth and asked, “Grace, are you afraid of my hags?”
“Yes. Who wouldn’t be?”
“What made them is far more terrible.” The girl stared at the man, obviously attentive, but she squirmed in her seat, just as obviously uneasy. He explained, “Hear the stillness and see the darkness and you shall either be blessed with wisdom or cursed with madness. Know yourself and you shall know love or you shall rot from within and know hate. Hear your own voice in the stillness and it shall tell you all about you. See yourself in the darkness and if there is light within you, you shall see it and not confuse it with any other. Be wary, for there is darkness in every heart and malevolence in every utterance. That which you fear to hear and dread to see, that which you long never to know: that is the Mystery.”
“You’re going to teach me everything you’re talking about, right?”
As the man chuckled, the girl heard him say, “I’m going to show you.”
That night: Annie and Grace were together with the brunette, Sister Felicity and the blond, Sister Mercy, in their room. “I’ll probably be a doctor,” Annie told the priestesses.
“A doctor?” Mercy responded. “Are you sure you’re the kind of person who can cut people open?”
“I’m sure I’ll learn.”
“Well, we do teach that sort of thing here, if that’s what you really want to do.”
Annie cautioned, “I don’t really know what I want to do. I just thought being a doctor might be a good idea.”
Mercy nodded. “You can change your mind, whenever. Talent is everything in this school. We’ll help you find what you really want to do and teach you how to be the best you can be at it.”
“Cool.”
Grace surprised the priestesses when she told them, “I want to be an actress... or a singer; maybe both.”
Felicity giggled, cuddled Grace and told her, “You love the spotlight.”
The girls liked Felicity and Mercy. The priestesses were cheerful, listened to them and seemed to genuinely like them. Grace also trusted them because what they actually said was the only thing she heard them say.
John stood at the foot of the monument, shining light up at the statue of the naked young girl, Grace Faye Elderberry. The image looked like his daughter but somehow did not. He hated whoever the girl was. Somehow he knew that all these problems were her fault. Whoever she was, she was a curse! She was unclean... or was she? Perhaps something else was to blame. Perhaps this girl was merely a beam of light that revealed rather than caused the ills of the world. Perhaps she merely illuminated what was already unclean.
“Mr. Elderberry,” a rich, masculine voice addressed him from behind.
John turned around and shined his light on a white-haired, blue-eyed man who wore a black business suit. “Who are you?”
“I am the High Priest of the Living Truth.”
“Really? Does that have a business card?”
“John, you may refer to me as the Reverend Henry Burdock, if you prefer. Most people do.”
“You’re a preacher?”
The white-haired man nodded as he walked up to John. The “preacher” pointed up at the statue and asked, “Do you know her?”
“It looks like my daughter.”
“Looks can be deceiving. Do you know why you are here?”
“Yeah, I got lost.”
The “preacher” shook his head. “You came here to cleanse the world of her. You came to cleanse the world of the heretic who would use her to further his own ambitions.”
“The Teacher?”
“Yes! John, you’re starting to remember.”
“You want me to kill Felix Blackthorn for you. Too bad, I’m not an assassin.”
“Oh, but you are. You are the Red Hand of Providence. The heretic brought her,” he pointed up at the statue, “but I brought you,” he pointed at John. “You came, but not to answer my call. You came to finish what you set out to do, long ago.”
“What I’ve set out to do is get out of here.”
“Reality is wavering here,” the “preacher” explained, “but not outside of here. That is why Eldritchville can be entered but not escaped from.”
“What?!”
“Because you were outside when it happened, you are part of the universal flow of reality, not this whirlpool.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nature fills every vacuum and restores and maintains universal balance. The alteration of your spatial and chronological circumstances has created a paradox. Nature has restored balance and resumed flow, thus, you have a new past. Your life has suitably adapted in accordance with the laws of nature.”
“My life?”
“Yes. I know you, John Elderberry. Do you?”
John did not answer.
“Felix Blackthorn is purposefully spawning abominations.”
John insisted, “That’s not my problem.”
“Oh, but it is! You cleanse the world of them whenever and wherever you find them. You hunt them to kill them! You hunt him because he teaches them to become what they are.”
“Well, Mr. Preacher High Priest, since you seem to know everything, then why don’t you tell me what’s happened to this place? Why is everything so dangerous and insane?”
“Why are you going insane? This place is a place of power. It always was and always will be. We have weakened and broken the barriers that oppress us. The safeguards of the human condition have fallen– that’s all. Now nothing shall be restrained from us that which we imagine to do. The heart and soul are unleashed. The strength and weakness within have been stirred and made manifest by the potent fertility of this place. We came here for that power, long ago.”
“Power, huh?”
“Yes. The truest power is mastery of one’s own destiny.”
The two men read:
“Grace Faye Elderberry
THEN AND NOW, NOW AND FOREVER
Let he who has ears to hear, hear.
Let he who has eyes to see, see.
Beloved is our Daughter of Eldritchville,
she who hears the Stillness
/> and sees the Darkness.
The Curse unto her is our Dearest Blessing.”
John asked, “Why is this thing here?”
“Grace Faye Elderberry was and is the favored Daughter of Eldritchville. She opened this place, long ago and blessed us with the curse of Awakening.”
“The Awakening?”
“Yes: awareness of who and what we truly are.”
“What happened to her?”
“She passed on.”
“She died?”
The “preacher” shook his head. “Her flesh died, but she did not. She has returned in a new, but old form. Her life of old was born anew. You have followed her here.”
“I’m not following her. I’m looking for her.”
The “preacher” smirked, “You know where she is. You always do. You can feel her.”
On an impulse, John drew his pistol and was going to put his last bullet in this freak’s head– but the “preacher” was gone!
Annie was in Mercy’s bed, with Mercy and Grace with Felicity, in Felicity’s bed. Someone tiptoed into the moonlit room as they all slept; someone only as tall as a nine-year-old girl. The person gently shook Grace’s shoulder. “Grace,” she whispered into Grace’s ear. “Grace.”
Grace opened her eyes and saw the shadowed face of a girl. “Prudence?”
“Shhh. Try to slip out of bed and come follow me.”
Grace noticed that when she slipped out of bed, she saw herself still in bed! Prudence explained, “You’re still asleep.”
“I’m dreaming?”
“Yes, but you’re also awake. Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“Shhh.” Prudence waited until they were in the hallway and the door closed behind them before lighting a candle. She whispered, “No talking until we get there.”
Prudence led Grace into a storage room, closed the door and laid a towel along the gap at the bottom. “It’s okay to talk,” she allowed, “but not too loudly.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“I have something to show you.”
“What?”
“Something I figured out and think you should know.” Prudence pulled a notebook out of hiding and opened it on the floor.
Grace stared down at the handwritten pages and their strange, geometrical diagrams. “What is it you’re showing me?”
“These are just things I copy from books I’m not supposed to see.” Prudence produced a human skull! The thing had no jaw, but two of its top row of yellow teeth were fangs. “Andrea Kelly Davis.”
“Was she a hag?”
“She was when she died, but not when she was born.” Prudence also laid out phials, herbs and a metal bowl and lit a larger, sweetly scented candle. “Close your eyes and think about the name: Andrea Kelly Davis. Try to clear your mind of everything else. I’ll be uttering an incantation, but try to ignore me. Your mind has to be focused on the name: Andrea Kelly Davis. Try to know her. Are you ready?”
Grace closed her eyes, “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ll try to be.” Miss Elderberry was mesmerized by the soft, hissing tone of the mumbled poem that was Prudence casting a spell. She smelled something tangy mix with the sweetness of the candle. “I’m feeling dizzy.”
“I know.” Grace felt Prudence hand her the skull. “You’re going to see something sad and scary. Be brave and don’t look away. No matter what you hear, listen. No matter what you feel, allow yourself to feel it. Andrea Kelly Davis is dead so the only link you’ll really have is with the shadow of her life. Look at the face of the skull and see the shadow of Andrea Kelly Davis. Don’t think about anything else. Open your eyes.”
Grace stared at the face and fangs of Andrea Kelly Davis. White hair sprouted from its scalp as red then ashen flesh covered the bone! The empty sockets filled with scary white eyes... that stared right at Grace! Much to the startled girl’s relief, the eyes seemed to see but not see her. Grace now held the “living” but disembodied head of a hag. “Let go of it,” Grace heard Prudence say. When Miss Elderberry did so, the head became the complete form of a hag. It stood there, plump, ugly and sneering. Suddenly it began to slim, its skin flushed and became rosy, its hair darkened and color filled its eyes. Its expression softened and the fangs seemed to shrink into normal teeth. It became a sickly but beautiful, buxom teenager. It then shrank into a healthy girl, Grace’s and Prudence’s age... then was a skull again. “Prudence, why did you show me this? Did you know Andrea Kelly Davis or something?”
“I never knew her but when I first saw her, she was already a hag. A few of the girls in this school are always sick, especially some of the older students. Some of them have faded eyes and gray hair already and they’re really mean and nasty. They aren’t even allowed to take classes with everybody else, anymore.”
Grace realized, “They’re becoming hags?”
“I think so.”
“Where did you get this skull?”
“The catacombs... underneath the school. Do you know why Andrea Kelly Davis died?”
“No.”
“She mauled a priestess. I saw her do it, about two years ago. Mr. Blackthorn cursed her with waking nightmares for forty days before burning her to death with the Cold Fire.”
“The Cold Fire? What’s that?”
“Some spell that burns only flesh.”
“Did the priestess she attack survive?”
“Sister Amity? Yeah. Sister Felicity healed her.”
“Why do you want me to know all this?”
“The priestesses don’t like the hags. Nobody does, but I think Mr. Blackthorn loves them. He likes me and talks about them a lot.”
“Are you afraid we might become hags?”
“No. Mr. Blackthorn said I don’t fit the profile. You don’t either.”
“The profile?”
“Yeah. He looked for girls who do, but the Council of Elders won’t even let him choose candidates for the School anymore. I think he still does; he’s just sneaky about it now.”
“What’s the profile?”
“You know: girls who come from broken homes or were abused; that sort of thing. There’s other things, like what type of body they have, but I don’t remember all the details.”
“So he looks for girls he knows will become hags? Why?”
“He said the Council only wants balance, but real power also needs flow. He said hags master the primal part of magic, the chaos and violence. Hags are strong and fast and they like to learn the spells and secrets good girls hate. He said people are like berries: some are harmless and some are poisonous, but they’re all still berries.”
Grace frowned, “I think Mr. Blackthorn is a horrible person if he knows what will happen and he does it anyway. He shouldn’t turn people into hags.”
“I know. That’s why I’m telling you these things.”
“Do you hate him?”
“No. I like him, but sometimes he scares me.”
“Prudence, has he ever done... anything to you?”
“No. Sometimes we kiss, but that’s all.”
“He kisses you-- on the lips?”
“Sometimes. He likes to lick my tongue.” Grace cringed. Prudence smirked, her sly countenance startling the other girl. “He tells me whatever I want to know.”
“Prudence, are we friends?”
“Yes.”
“How do we know each other?”
“We’d meet in our dreams. You don’t remember me?”
“No.”
“Maybe you don’t wake up immediately. You have to wake up if you’re going to remember.”
“Hey!” Grace felt someone tugging on her arm. “Hey!” She woke up, still in bed with Sister Felicity!
The priestess shook her, asking, “Grace, what were you doing?!”
“Huh? I was dreaming.”
“Who was with you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mercy!” Felicity called for the other priestess to awaken. “Mercy!”
“What?”
“I just caught Grace communing through oneiromancy. The other presence did not sound or feel like Mr. Blackthorn.”
“The Purifier?”
“I don’t think so. It sounded like a girl.”
Felicity brought Grace to Mr. Blackthorn’s bedchamber. “Who was it?” the Teacher wondered concerning the “other presence.”
“I don’t know; and she won’t tell me, but the whisper sounded like a girl.”
“Thank you, Felicity. Go back to sleep. I’ll deal with our little dream-wanderer.” Mr. Blackthorn brought Grace into his room and lit a lamp. “Grace, do you want to tell me who you were communing with?”
“I... I don’t remember.”
“I doubt that. I think you don’t want to tell me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Grace, why don’t you want to tell me? Are you close to this person?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know. Is she a student of mine?” Grace gasped. “It is a student. Thank you for inadvertently telling me. Grace, you can tell me. I don’t hurt my own students.” Grace heard what was unsaid, “Only hags who forget to fear me.”
Grace dared ask, “How many have you killed?”
“What?”
“How many of your own hags have you killed?”
The man sniggered. “Eleven of them, so far.” Grace also heard, “Neither quickly nor painlessly.”
“You torture them to death! Why? They’re your own students!”
“No. Hags are graduates. They’ve already become what they are.”
“It’s all your fault!”
“No. I am the Teacher, not the Maker. Grace, do you know what my hags would be without my teachings? They’d be ugly women, inside and out. They would abuse their bodies and resign themselves to be abused by others. They’d waste their hearts wanting and their minds wandering. They’d speak ill of others out of jealousy or petty spite. All I’ve done is make that which would have been weak and petty into something powerful and fierce!”
“Monsters.”
“Yes. They are truly human.”
“No, they’re not! Not anymore!”
The man nodded. “They are monstrous in their humanity. Aren’t we all? It is our nature to act at the expense of others, or even ourselves. We are all monsters. It’s what makes us human.”
The man laughed! He rambled, “I told them but they wouldn’t listen. I tried it myself, but they tried to stop me. They call me a heretic but everything I’ve said is true.” He smiled at Grace and told her, “They didn’t believe you, either... but you were right. They tried to kill you for your insight. Now they call you the Beloved Daughter of Eldritchville. You passed on but didn’t die. You’ve come back, but he has followed you. You’ve come back to prove me right.” Grace also heard, “Hear the stillness and see the darkness and the curse unto you shall be the blessing of all wise enough to hear you and see what you have done.” The man told the girl, “You have stirred the power, now the power is upon us. All fear it. All want it. All shall try to take it. Few shall survive the tempest. Woe unto all who do. Blessed be the damned.”
Outside: Hags dove out of the way as a truck smashed through the gate! The large vehicle lumbered on until crashing into the front doors of the school!
The Teacher led Grace along by her wrist when Felicity ran up to him saying, “Mr. Blackthorn! Mr. Blackthorn, a man crashed through the gate in a truck. He’s in the school!”
“Bring in the hags.”
“Into the building?”
“Yes! That man is the Purifier. He’s come to kill us!”
John ran up the staircase. He knew where they were. He could feel them and the closer he got, the stronger the sensation. Looking back, he saw a priestess leading a dozen hags into the building after him. John hid and waited for them. He was not going to allow them to stop him.
The Teacher was still pulling Grace along when he was met by Sister Constance and a dozen hags. “Mr. Blackthorn!”
“Constance, I know what’s happening. He’s the Purifier.”
“The Purifier?!”
“Yes. We knew he’d come.”
“Mr. Blackthorn, what do you want me to do?”
“Come with me.”
“He’s in the building.”
“I know! Come with me!”
Elsewhere: Hags screamed and fell when attacked from behind! John punched, kicked, cut and stabbed his way through them. They jabbed and swiped their punching daggers at him, but he was faster. They lunged at him, but he shoved and knocked them about, slashing throats and bellies as he did so. One hag slammed him against the wall and snapped at him! She winced and shrieked when pierced and torn open!
Mr. Blackthorn sat Grace on a chair and told her, “Don’t leave!” He said to a hag, “You: stay and watch her. Don’t let her go anywhere.”
“Yes, Mr. Blackthorn.”
Felix said to Sister Constance and her eleven other hags, “Let’s go.”
Grace’s guard stared at her with those frightening, deathly white eyes. The monster grinned, showing her yellow fangs and rasped, “Now we are alone together.” She cackled, delighting in the girl’s fright.
The guts were pouring out of the last hag John was fighting! He shoved the heavy monster aside and lunged at the priestess! She screamed and fled! John tackled her to the floor and wrestled her into a firm headlock. He squeezed and squeezed... until she was unconscious.
Grace’s hideous guard sneered at her and asked, “What’s wrong, pretty little girl? You’re Mr. Blackthorn’s favorite. You should be the happiest girl in the world.” She cackled then taunted, “You’ll be the favorite bitch in the kennel. When he wants something, you’ll be the one he does it to.” The hag laughed... when suddenly grabbed over the mouth and cut across her throat! Her attacker held her as bright red blood flowed down her ample, sickly-ashen bosom. The man, Grace’s father, dropped the hag’s chubby body to the floor with an unceremonious thud.
“Dad?”
The man stared down at his daughter, heaving, his eyes burning with murderous fire, his knife red and wet. Grace’s stomach felt sick, her heart faint and her blood ran cold. She squeaked and cringed: The face she never wanted to see was looking right at her! It was... “No,” she choked, “No! Daddy, please!” She sobbed and cowered as he, the evil that hated her with all his heart, loomed over her, staring at her with a sneer that cut like a knife! He grabbed her by the throat, pulled her up and raised the wet blade... when suddenly grabbed by the shoulder and swung around! John winked– then blasted the Purifier’s brains out of his head!
“Dad?”
“Huh?” John was driving his van towards the gentle, rosy and golden rays of dawn. He looked in the rearview mirror and was relieved to see Grace and Annie sitting behind him.
“What happened?”
John said, without thinking, “Purification.” He pulled over then stepped out and looked back. In the fleeting darkness behind them there was only the sky, the wilderness and the lonely road.
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